DCR NEWS

March 14, 2008

Viva Las Vegas! IP CLE in Sin City...

Nipper, as usual, beat me to the punch in announcing a reunion of sorts for the Rethink(IP) guys in Las Vegas next month.

Namely, all three of us will be speaking (along with a host of other great IP panelists) at Dunes’ “Patent Drafting & Prosecution” CLE that is happening on April 11th, 2008 in shiny Las Vegas, Nevada.

The title of my sesion is “Current Issues in U.S. and Foreign Patent Prosecution” – specifically, I will be addressing:

As the world continues to become flatter, patent professionals in the United States are receiving increasingly complex requests from clients as to the patent procedures found in many foreign jurisdictions.  As such, the U.S. patent professional must be able to quickly identify foreign patenting issues early and implement U.S. and foreign patenting activities in a coordinated manner.  In Current Issues in U.S. and Foreign Patent Prosecution, Mr. Sorocco will discuss newly implemented U.S. and foreign jurisdiction rules and regulations that may impact U.S. based practitioners and the clients they serve.  Representative topics include the current status of rule changes at the USPTO, the Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs, the London Protocol Agreement and the possibility of a European Community Patent.

I always appreciate the tips, tricks and insight that come from PHOSITA readers – so, feel free to send them my way.

 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 09:28 PM.
Permalink: Viva Las Vegas! IP CLE in Sin City...
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DCR NEWS

July 31, 2007

Go Big or Go Home

BlawgWorld is back, bigger than ever, and featuring posts from both PHOSITA and Promote the Progress.  This eBook provides a collection of 77 of the most influential blawgs so it is an honor to be included again this year.  The guys over at TechnoLawyer have also provided a Problem/Solution Guide in combo with BlawgWorld 2007.  Time to catch up on your blawg reading and get answers to all of your law firm problems.

 

 

Posted by Laura C. Wood at 04:49 PM.
Permalink: Go Big or Go Home
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DCR NEWS

December 13, 2006

2007 Corporate Patent Congress Conference

One of the greatest benefits of blogging the last couple of years has been the ability to speak at different conferences and CLE programs.  Both Matt and I have greatly enjoyed our experiences and travels this past year and look forward to meeting many more of our readers and colleagues in 2007. 

Our first stop in 2007 is the American Conference Institute’s Corporate Patent Congress 2007 (link to program).  It will be held January 22–23, 2007 at the New York Marriott East Side Hotel in New York City. 

I must confess that I am really looking forward to participating in this conference.  All of the speakers are incredible and I think that the topics are quite timely and engaging.  Matt and I will be speaking on a panel along with Stephen R. Albainy-Jenei of the Patent Baristas Blog (a PHOSITA favorite) on “Maximizing Your Corporate Patent Portfolio and Harnessing Its Value in Changing Times”. 

The topics we will be covering include:

• Utilizing aggressive offensive and counter-defensive measures to generate a steady revenue stream from your IP portfolios
• cross-industry considerations
• Increasing corporate prowess and maintaining your competitive edge in the market through strategic patent acquisition
• Incorporating patent portfolio management into your business planning and valuation strategies
• pharma/life sciences v. tech

For a full list of all of the conference sessions, download the attached conference flyer (PDF 206kb).  As a special bonus for PHOSITA readers, mention discount code 662L07.SBLG and you will receive $200 off of the registration fee.

We look forward to seeing everyone in New York City in January!  Let’s us know if you are coming and we can set up a time to meet over a beverage or two of your choice – Matt will be buying, of course!

 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 10:49 AM.
Permalink: 2007 Corporate Patent Congress Conference
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DCR NEWS

October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween from PHOSITA!

Don't let the ghouls and goblins get you tonight! 

We here at PHOSITA will be passing out copies of reexamined software patents to all the little trick or treat'rs... um um good!

While you are at it… you might want to check out Denise Howell’s spook-tacular Blawg Review No. 81 over at Bag & Baggage.  Lots of great legal blogging to read along with some hair raising videos.

I wonder how long it will take until our windows are soaped?

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 06:00 AM.
Permalink: Happy Halloween from PHOSITA!
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DCR NEWS

October 20, 2006

Where is Dunlap Codding and Rogers Located?

Well, our main office is located in beautiful Oklahoma City!  We also have satellite offices in Washington, D.C. and Perrysburg, Ohio. 

This post is actually a test of a new blog posting software by Microsoft - Windows Live Writer (WLW).  One of the interesting features of WLW is the ability to publish maps, like this one which was created solely within WLW.

While this is certainly a very cool feature, I still enjoy Blogjet and believe that Dmitry's efforts to introduce Version 2.0 of Blogjet will continue to push the boundaries of blogging tools available.

 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 03:07 PM.
Permalink: Where is Dunlap Codding and Rogers Located?
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DCR NEWS

June 12, 2006

patent reform lecture - j. matthew buchanan

A couple of weeks ago, the IP Section of the Oklahoma Bar Association conducted its annual CLE seminar at Tanglewood Resort on Lake Texoma.  My partner, Nick Rouse, was in charge of the weekend and did a phenomenal job.

The lecturers were top notch and although I am a bit biased, I would have to say that Matt Buchanan was one of the two best speakers over the course of the weekend.  Matt blogs about patent reform issues and patent legislation over at Promote the Progress.

Matt spoke on the recent patent reform efforts underway in the United States and the impact any such reform may have on practitioners and patentees. 

Considering the timeliness and importance of Matt’s talk, I recorded the lecture and DCR is presenting it here for your review and comment. 

The video stream can be viewed below (or you can grab it at Google Video as a stream, as a download or as a video iPod download).  The PowerPoint slides are available for download as a PDF file (2.2MB).

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 01:42 PM.
Permalink: patent reform lecture - j. matthew buchanan

DCR NEWS

May 18, 2006

speaking engagements - bookending the summer

I have been winding down the Spring speaking engagement schedule and have been looking forward to some R&R over the summer – but a couple of opportunities have come up that were just too interesting to turn down.

First, I will be speaking at ALM’s Small Firm Business Forum in Los Angeles on June 7th.   This looks to be a great seminar and I am especially looking forward to speaking with both Tom Mighell from the Inter Alia blog and William Kellermann of CT Summation on the topic of “The Cyber-Ethical Lawyer: How Not to Commit Malpractice With Your PC.” 

We will be covering a lot of items in our session, but here is a sneak peak of the highlights:

• Technology and a Lawyer's Ethical Obligations
• E-Mail Communications and the Duty of Confidentiality
• Ethics and the Online World -- Blogging, Web Sites, and Advertising
• Keeping Client Data Safe

Second, I am also honored to be invited to speak at Dunes CLE’s Current Issues in Patent Law on August 25th in Las Vegas.  In fact, both Matt and I will be speaking at this conference – so come on out, get some CLE and hang out with at least 2/3 of the Rethink(IP) gang. 

At Dunes I will be speaking on the role of strategic patenting and proactive patent management strategies in light of the Supreme Court’s sudden interest in patent cases.  I work with a lot of companies on strategic patenting initiatives and I am looking forward to discussing how best to implement them in light of the recent decisions.

So it is gonna be a busy beginning and end to the summer. 

My calendar is also starting to fill up for the Fall, so if you are looking for a speaker – let me know.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 11:25 AM.
Permalink: speaking engagements - bookending the summer

DCR NEWS

April 27, 2006

Announcing the newest PHOSITA - Laura Wood

A new PHOSITA has joined our ranks.  Laura Wood, an associate here at Dunlap, Codding & Rogers, has been bitten by the blogging bug (thanks to a couple months of incessant nagging from Doug and me) and is anxious to start writing on all things IP in the grand tradition of "the People Magazine of IP blogs" (Doug's words...).

Laura's a great writer with a wonderful eye for the interesting angle on things.  We know she'll find all sorts of fun and fascinating stuff to post on the blog and believe she'll even expand our horizons a bit.  Last week, she showed us a few ideas and we've already picked up on a couple things about her -- she has an eye that is very different than ours and she's got a Texas-sized interest in IP issues (she's a Texas gal, after all).

Please join me in welcoming Laura to the PHOSITA team.

As always, contact any of us with comments or questions regarding anything on the blog.

Posted by J. Matthew Buchanan at 09:52 AM.
Permalink: Announcing the newest PHOSITA - Laura Wood

DCR NEWS

March 01, 2006

announcing the newest phosita!

Thank you to everyone who sent me an email concerned that PHOSITA had been on a short hiatus,  I must admit that it did go dark for a couple of weeks.  I do have a good reason, however…

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the PHOSITA family — Karl Einar Sorocco.

Karl was born last Saturday morning and weighed in at 7lbs 2oz and 19 inches long.  He and mom (and sometimes dad) are doing very well at home and our lives are starting to settle into a more predictable routine.

So – y’all will have to bear with me over the next 18 or so years… although, if I start posting only news about patented baby products, feel free to holler. 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 11:05 AM.
Permalink: announcing the newest phosita!
| Comments (4)

DCR NEWS

December 29, 2005

Top 10 IP Source - PHOSITA!

Happy New Year!

And I must say, what a great way to start the New Year -- TopTenSources has selected PHOSITA to be a featured Top 10 Source site for Intellectual Property law.

Patent Baristas, another Top 10 pick (an the best blog on bio/pharma IP issues) describes the Top 10 as:

Top 10 Sources publishes a daily "Top 10" site of the best newsfeeds on the Internet. The editors pick a topic then find a sampling of what they find to be the ten best sources on the Net on that topic that offer newsfeeds - whether they're blogs, mainstream media, or anybody else publishing great stuff online.

One of the editors, Rob Rogoyski, even penned an homage to our little niche of law, entitled “All Rights Reserved”

Copyright, Patent, and TM – oh my!
What Trade Secret does your Trade Dress belie?
Parody and Publicity,
Do I dare to P2P?
Does Fair Use free Intellectual Property?
Read on, and ©.

by Robert Rogoyski

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 09:00 AM.
Permalink: Top 10 IP Source - PHOSITA!

DCR NEWS

December 28, 2005

happy new year!

 I hope everyone is having a truly wonderful holiday season and that the New Year brings happiness, health and exciting new opportunities.

PHOSITA has been a bit quiet the past week – I am in the process of rehabbing and renovating an older home and the imminent arrival of a new family member has kicked my work up a notch! 

Have a safe New Year and we will be back in 2006!

And yes, PHOSITA® is now a registered trademark of Dunlap Codding & Rogers, P.C.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 08:49 AM.
Permalink: happy new year!

DCR NEWS

December 05, 2005

announcing ... J. Matthew Buchanan - of counsel to Dunlap Codding & Rogers

You know the old saying… save the best for last. 

It is my utmost pleasure to be able to finally and “officially” announce that J. Matthew Buchanan has joined Dunlap Codding & Rogers, P.C. 

I know that others (including Matt, Steve, Dennis and Kevin, among many other well wishers) have already beat me to the punch, but since December 1 was Matt’s first official day “on board” – I wanted to wait to make the announcement over here at PHOSITA. 

Many of you know of my collaboration with Matt and Steve Nipper over at Rethink(IP) – but what you may not know is that the three of us began collaborating with one another on different legal matters, practice tips and general career issues at about the same time. 

We all knew that we wanted to continue practicing law – it is truly what we love to do – but at the same time we believed that we could begin to explore the nature of intellectual property law and how legal services are provided to clients. Hence the birth of Rethink(IP) – a place where we can rant and post about the practice of intellectual property law. 

As you can imagine, many of the things we discuss “off blog” are where we are most interested and one of the truly great things to come out of Rethink(IP) was the ability to discuss our individual practices with someone outside our firms – without fear of competition or self-interested advice being given.

One of the things that struck me almost immediately is that we all have the same philosophy and desire to serve our clients.  Matt especially — Matt is the kind of lawyer that we all want to be – loyal to a fault, insightful, pragmatic and wickedly inquistive and knowledgeable. 

I always had in the back of my mind that Matt was one of “those people” I wanted to associate with — little did I know that I would get the opportunity much sooner than I had ever expected.  When Matt mentioned to me this past summer that he was interested in exploring other career opportunities, I knew that there was an opportunity for us to begin putting some of the things we both believe in – service, commitment and excellence – into practice. 

So, after thousands of conversations – Matt agreed to come on board with us at DCR.  I doubt Matt ever expected to be “of counsel” to a firm started in Oklahoma in the 1950s – but as we have grown to include an office in Washington D.C. and our clientele spans the globe, it is only fitting that our newest and tech-saviest firm member is keenly aware of international patent developments and legislation. 

Matt is also spearheading our insourcing and outreach efforts – an experiment surrounding the concept of leveraging the lower overhead of “one off” midwestern cities to a client’s advantage.

Overall, DCR is extremely excited and hopeful about Matt joining our firm.   I think DCR is a perfect fit for Matt, and I likewise believe that Matt will be someone who helps further position DCR at the forefront of intellectual property law firms.

And as Matt has said over and over the past couple of months, “… any place you can eat five types of smoked animals on one plate, can’t be all that bad!”

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 07:16 AM.
Permalink: announcing ... J. Matthew Buchanan - of counsel to Dunlap Codding & Rogers

DCR NEWS

December 04, 2005

rats! phosita not nominated for the 2005 Weblog awards...

Rats and double rats!

Well – I guess you can’t please everyone all the time… PHOSITA was not nominated for one of the 2005 Weblog Awards.  While it would be easy to skulk and whine… the law blogs nominated are all excellent and outstanding examples of our genre.  This is the first year for the law blogs to be included – so that is, in and of itself, a tremendous accomplishment.

The very worthwhile and deserving nominees are:

SCOTUSblog
The Becker-Posner Blog
ProfessorBainbridge.com
Althouse
Patterico's Pontifications
Stop The ACLU
Overlawyered
TaxProf Blog
The Volokh Conspiracy
Confirm Them
How Appealing
Conglomerate
Sentencing Law and Policy
Law Dork
BeldarBlog

Head on over to The Weblog Awards and vote for your favorite.

 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 05:31 PM.
Permalink: rats! phosita not nominated for the 2005 Weblog awards...

DCR NEWS

phosita ::: November, 2005 top ten

November was a slow month around here – it was a month of changes for PHOSITA and DCR and in the fray, the frequency of posts slowed a bit. 

Melody Wirz moved to a new firm in Houston (new email) and we all wish her the best of luck.  Matt Buchanan began the process of moving his practice to DCR – and I will post more about the process and initial outcomes on Monday.

Overall, I am still amazed that the Apple post is still raking in hits in November since it was originally posted way back in August.  If you are staring a new blog, post about either Microsoft, Apple and patents and you will have visitors galore!

PHOSITA’S NOVEMBER 2005 TOP 10 POSTS

• Microsoft Patents Apple - Don't Believe the Hype
  
• Spooky-O-Rama
  
• new intellectual property blogs
  
• TGIM - USB Creepiness
  
• Engines of Growth - Report of the Economic Contributions of the US Intellectual Property Industries
  
• support the creative commons
  
• employee's guide to joining a start-up
  
• fashionably late to the blawgthink ball
  
• BlawgThink 2005 - Mandatory Cool Thing To Do
  
• the wheel reinvented - best invention of 2005?

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 09:47 AM.
Permalink: phosita ::: November, 2005 top ten

DCR NEWS

December 02, 2005

blawgworld 2006 ebook available

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 06:28 PM.
Permalink: blawgworld 2006 ebook available

DCR NEWS

November 24, 2005

phosita upgrade - moving email updates to feedblitz

I am moving PHOSITA’s email subscriptions over to FeedBlitz today – I am going to keep the original Bloglet subscriptions running for a day or two to make certain that FeedBlitz is working properly, so everyone may get two emails with updates for the rest of the week.

If anyone who is receiving this by email sees anything wierd – let me know.  For those of you who signed up anonymously with Bloglet – you will have to resubcribe as I can’t import your address into FeedBlitz. Head on over to PHOSITA to resubscribe.

For those of you reading this via RSS – everything will look the same!

Thanks for your patience while we make PHOSITA better.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 01:45 PM.
Permalink: phosita upgrade - moving email updates to feedblitz

DCR NEWS

November 14, 2005

fashionably late to the blawgthink ball

Well it seems that I am destined to be fashionably late to all things BlawgThink these days.

Day 1 – the newest member of DCR (more about that later) and I arrive late due to a very informative and interesting client breakfast.

Day 2 – all the RTIP guys arrive late because of a defective alarm clock : defective in the sense that it didn’t realize it was supposed to go off again even though one of us decided to turn it off when it went off at 5am.

Afterwards – everyone in the blog-o-sphere seems to have already posted their experiences and recollections.  See e.g. Almost Cool, Blogads Weblog, BK!, Knowledge Jolt, and Dave! of Preaching to the Perverted, among many many others.

It was another one of those events where you just gotta sit down and think about it for a couple of weeks.  I got a chance to decompress for all of 12 hours before I was off on a client trip – so I haven’t had much time to really get my ideas and impressions organized – they are spread across a number of folded and crumbled pieces of paper and I need to get them into some sort of order before posting about them here.

I promise I will – however, I have said it before and I will say it again – if it can’t be done in MindManager (using Gyronix’s Results Manager) it ain’t worth doing.

I will say this: there are some tremendous thinkers in the small corner of the blog-o-sphere where us lawyers hang out.  If I could find a way to corral all of these folks into one innovative and forward thinking organization, the world would never be the same from a client service point of view.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more collaboration and innovation occurring sooner rather than later —  the legal services industry is about to be shaken up. 

And it goes without saying, Matt Homann and Dennis Kennedy are two of the most genuine and innovative folks out there – if you ever get the chance to spend some time with either of them, do not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity. 

 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 11:41 PM.
Permalink: fashionably late to the blawgthink ball

DCR NEWS

September 07, 2005

ip memes' newest members

IP Memes will include a couple of new contributors in the next issue due out on September 26 - namely, Matt Buchanan of the Promote the Progress blog and myself.

If you're not familiar with The TechnoLawyer Community...you should be. TechnoLawyer provides a number of great newsletters (including IP Memes), and a forum where "technolawyers" can ask one another questions about technology (i.e., "has anyone every used _______ and what did you think about it?"). It is an excellent resource for all tech attorneys, and has an archive which I have searched from time to time with questions (what scanner to purchase, whether I should upgrade to the latest version of __________, etc.). The best part? It is free. Try it, if you don't agree you can easily unsubscribe.

Over the past year Steve Nipper of The Invent Blog has been writing the IP Memes newsletter. IP Memes is described as “a weekly newsletter that explores emerging technology-related intellectual property issues — or “memes” as we call them. Think of it as your coal-mine canary for intellectual property issues.”

Steve has been doing a solid job this past year - Matt and I are both thrilled to be asked to join him to continue IP Memes' tradition of excellence and join some of the IP community's finest commentators and thinkers - including Dennis Kennedy, Denise Howell, Gail Standish, Kevin Grierson and Kurt Calia - all of whom, are IP Memes alumni.

Click the image above to be taken to the signup form for IP Memes and yes, it is just another example of the collaboration taking place over at Rethink(IP). You never know where we might "pop up" next.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 08:06 PM.
Permalink: ip memes' newest members

DCR NEWS

June 01, 2005

top phosita posts in may, 2005 - the cookies, piracy, and Apple myths edition

It was a busy month here at PHOSITA and it seems that Melody wins the prize for the most popular posts – 8/10 were written by her. 

Without further ado – the top PHOSITA posts for May, 2005: 

1. Piracy of the Sith
2. Britney Sued for Copyright Infringement
3. Oldest Patent Lawyer Recognized
4. Backspace Key v. Wite-Out
5. Girl Scout Cookies Protected By Intellectual Property - Kinda
6. Weekend Trademark Fun
7. hotbed of technological innovation :: PHOSITA in the news
8. Mythical Mac Tablet - Debunking the Hype
9. IP Rights in Software
10. Pets are People, Too

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 12:33 AM.
Permalink: top phosita posts in may, 2005 - the cookies, piracy, and Apple myths edition

DCR NEWS

May 24, 2005

hotbed of technological innovation :: PHOSITA in the news

Darren Barefoot, a partner in InsideBlogging, recently interviewed me for an article about DCR and the success/interest we have had with PHOSITA over the past 18 months.  The article is now online over at Professional Marketing North America.

I think the opening paragraph sums up the tone of the article pretty well:

The law firm of Dunlap, Codding & Rogers is a little unorthodox. First, they specialize in intellectual property law, but aren’t headquartered in New York or Silicon Valley. Instead, this 18-person firm makes its home in Oklahoma City, OK—hardly a hotbed of technological innovation.

Another peculiar thing about Dunlap, Codding & Rogers is that they’ve got a popular Weblog or “blawg.” Companies that blog are still the exception to the rule. Law firms—those staid, old world institutions—that blog are nearly unheard of…

I would argue with the “hotbed of technological innovation” comment – but, then again, what he doesn’t know is our gain.  Those flying under the radar will always be the victors over those in the “spotlight”. 

The firms in the “middle coast” are expanding to fulfill a real need: client driven legal services, alternative billing and compensation systems, sanity concerning the number of billable hours required, and service. 

Companies are no longer willing to pay sky-high rates in order to subsidize $100+ per square foot office space rates, unsustainable associate salaries and rosewood conference tables. 

As Laura Owen, director of worldwide legal services at Cisco Systems, said in her ‘Change or Die’ manifesto:

Move your legal work to low cost firms located in the Midwest, South or other regions away from high cost centers. Doesn't sound like technology here, but it is. Extranets provide ways for companies to work with firms across the country (and the world ). Web-based worksites are always open, always on. Work flow tools -- putting the right person in the right order at the right time -- can dramatically improve productivity and reduce costs.

For example, patent prosecution works well for this model -- and if the client uses an online patent application tool for its employees, connecting to the firms that do the work, clients improve the patent prosecution for the company and the firms make more money through an increase in patent filings.

By the way – Cisco is located in San Jose, California – right in the middle of the “hotbed of technology” Darren mentions. 

Thanks to Larry Bodine and the Information Dirty Road and Feed Me Legal blogs for the mentions as well.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 09:28 AM.
Permalink: hotbed of technological innovation :: PHOSITA in the news

DCR NEWS

April 26, 2005

be back soon....

Thanks for hanging in there with us. We are currently moving servers for PHOSITA and the main Dunlap Codding & Rogers site.

I anticipate everything to be up and running smoothly tomorrow!

Please drop me an email if anything seems amiss

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 11:13 AM.
Permalink: be back soon....
| Comments (1)

DCR NEWS

March 10, 2005

quote in the new york times

OK – I thought I would drop a post out to all my cyber-friends — especially since I have already gotten some calls and emails from the New York area already this morning.

Yes, I was quoted in the New York Times this morning.  No it wasn’t about technology issues — it was for a scientific article that was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine about the practice of euthanizing children born with severe medical conditions, such as spina bifida, in The Netherlands.  This is a very personal issue for me because I was born with spina bifida and I am currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Spina Bifida Association of America.

I typically don’t blog about personal items on PHOSITA but since I had received so many private inquiries – I thought I would post a link to the article and confirm that I am the individual quoted.  Thank you for all the nice comments and thoughts sent my way – I do greatly appreciate them. 

To answer the question “How can I help?” — I would appreciate it if you took the time to tell one woman of child-bearing age today about the importance of taking folic acid prior to conceiving a child.  The amount of folic acid needed to prevent up to 75% of spina bifida affected pregnancies is found in any multi-vitamin.  This simple step, while not 100% effective, does significantly reduce the chances of having a spina bifida affected pregnancy.

Thanks again for all the supportive and encouraging comments.

Best -

Douglas

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 12:33 PM.
Permalink: quote in the new york times

DCR NEWS

February 24, 2005

The Law Geeks Won!!!!!!!!!!

Holy cats!  We won, we actually won! You love us, you really do love us. At this time I would like to thank the academy….. Sorry, I was getting a bit carried away there.

The Business Blogging Award winners have just been announced and PHOSITA has won in the Best Law Blog category.  We are tremendously honored and quite surprised considering the high quality law blogs we were running against. (i.e. “blawgs” – the proper term coined by the Godmother of Blogging herself, Denise Howell)  In particular, while we had a little bit of fun competing with the Sports Law Blog, I would highly recommend it as a daily read.  Fantastic writing and spot on analysis.

While it is a cliche, it is true that everyone that was nominated for an award was a winner and, overall, the awards fulfilled their mission of spotlighting the business blogging community and the significant contributions the business bloggers make.  Keep an eye out for some forthcoming posts on some of the nominees as I will be spotlighting some blogs that I think should also be daily reads for PHOSITAs.

And, the winners are:

Best Overall Blog - Security Awareness
Best Group Blog - Monty’s Bluff
Best New Blog - 800-CEO-READ
Best Law Blog - Phosita
Best VC/Entrepreneur Blog - Business Opportunities
Best Financial Industry/Investment Blog - Between the Hedges
Best Personal Finance Blog - PFBlog
Best Blog by a Small Business - The Tin Basher Blog
Best Blog About Small Business - eBizBlog
Best PR Blog - Media Guerilla
Best Tech Company Blog - Security Awareness
Best Media Blog - Fast Company Blog
Best Real Estate Blog - Tampa Bay’s Inside Real Estate Journal
Best Marketing Blog - JSLogan
Best SEO Blog - Blog Business World
Best Project Management Blog - AgileManagement
Best Leadership Blog - Leadership Now
The Picasso Award (Best Design) - Signal vs. Noise
The Peacock Award (Most Self-Important) - Inside Real Estate Journal
The Chris Pirillo Award (For Shameless Self Promotion) - Chris Pirillo

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 10:20 AM.
Permalink: The Law Geeks Won!!!!!!!!!!
| Comments (4)

DCR NEWS

February 10, 2005

we still need your vote...

The jocks versus the law geeks struggle is still raging over at the Business Blogging Awards - PHOSITA is currently winning, but we need your vote.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 08:55 PM.
Permalink: we still need your vote...

DCR NEWS

February 03, 2005

vote 'phosita' as best law blog in Business Blogging Awards

Holy Cow!

PHOSITA is up for the Best Law Blog award over at the Business Blogging Awards. The competition is fierce and all of the entries are great legal blogs.

We at PHOSITA would appreciate your vote and if elected, we promise not to mention “lock boxes,” “social security crisis” or “prescription drugs.”

While you are at it —– make sure you also go over to Legal Affairs Magazine and write in Matt Homann’s name as one of the “Top Twenty Legal Thinkers in America.”

 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 01:12 PM.
Permalink: vote 'phosita' as best law blog in Business Blogging Awards

DCR NEWS

January 24, 2005

Small Business Trends reviews Phosita

Anita Campbell, the Editor and web guru of the Small Business Trends blog, reviewed PHOSITA over the weekend.  Last week culminated our first year of blogging and we are thrilled with Anita’s timely review and gracious comments, including:

Phosita has done a nice job integrating its blog with the law firm's website. For instance, each of the attorneys who post on the site are identified by full name, with links to their email addresses and their biographies. The law firm name and addresses are also clearly identified, along with a link to the firm's main website. And on the firm's website, there is a prominent menu item for the blog. The most recent blog post is also reproduced on the website home page. The lawyers have done a better job leveraging their blog for marketing purposes than many marketing professionals!

Wow – now that is a compliment.  As some background, when developing PHOSITA and the firm’s new main website we wanted to make the two separate sites seamlessly integrate with one another and yet maintain their distinct “personalities.”  The main site provides a traditional overview of our firm as well as active links to ongoing CLE classes and attorney biographies.  In comparison, PHOSITA is our alter-ego. The place where we can post patent, trademark and copyright information as well as geeky techno gadgets information, law practice tips and informative and sometimes relevant items about the intersection of law and technology. 

As Anita mentions, we use our blog as a marketing tool not just to provide information on the law but to also provide information on our firm and individual personalities. Our most read posts are always those where we reveal a little about ourselves and our interests.  While it is intimidating to put such information our into the public domain, we hope our clients and readers have a better understanding of our technical expertise as well as our off-kilter sense of humor and interests.

It has been an exhilarating year blogging.  Thank you to everyone who reads PHOSITA and have made our blawg a stopping place on the ‘Net.  We look forward to year two …

…. and now on to bigger and bolder things! 

 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 02:21 PM.
Permalink: Small Business Trends reviews Phosita

DCR NEWS

November 30, 2004

phosita news - stellar review

One of my favorite blog sites is The Weblog Review.  I often use the reviews as a starting off point to new blogs to add to my reading list and blogroll.  The reviews range from the sublime to the profound and from the erudite to the crude.  To give you a sense of the “tone” of The Weblog Review, this snippet from their About page should give some insight:

But what about lazy people someone asked. What about the people that only want to read the best sites out there and don't want to read a review of the site? This question kind of defeated the purpose of the reviews he thought, but then he realized the answer. A rating system. But not just by the reviewer, but by the people that read the reviews and the sites. Everyone knows that one person may love a site, but ten might hate it. Or even vise versa. Having people rate the sites would be very helpful.

Fortunately, we were reviewed this week by the very busy reviewers of The Weblog Review  and PHOSITA received a very nice and quite complimentary review from ODAAT.

This is my first experience of a “weblawg” (a weblog about law, dummie) and I was quite looking forward to it. After a while, reviewing blogs about somebody’s dog dying last week gets a bit dull and new subject matter always cheers me up.

So I clicked on the link and found a well constructed blog running off Movable Type. It is well put together and has a nice tidy titlebar at the top (which it looks like they have designed themselves) and the usual two columns. Apart from the title bar (which contains a useful subtitle: “A "blawg" (legal blog) blogging intellectual property legal issues of interest: patent, copyright and trademark law!”), you can also find out more about the blog by reading the little explanation in the sidebar about the blog and the company behind it. This was the first idea I had that actually this blog might be accessible to me (i.e. a complete layman with regards to law, patents etc.) It’s pretty nice that they have bothered to make it accessible- usually specialist weblogs are just that- great for those in to the subject, but a waste of time to everyone else. Not so with this blog.

I admit it. I am in to leftfield, counter-culture, “arty” kind of things as a rule. Law is not my thing at all in the usual course of events. So I ploughed in to the content with some trepidation. However I was quite amazed that I found a lot of the articles pretty interesting and informative. Most were about subjects which I have some experience of (the world of intellectual property is basically about new stuff, whether it be computers, the web, music, or the slightly more complex world of er…single-wall-nanotubes, whatever they are). I read through the front page and only found one or two articles which didn’t engage me at all, so ventured forth in to the archives with some optimism.

There are a lot of archives – as the blog has multiple authors, there is quite a high density of posts going back to January 2004. Having different authors also ensures that there are a wide variety of posts right the way through though. Of those that really grabbed my attention, there was one about sampling in rap music, and another about a cool new technology which (kind of) makes things invisible. I think there is something for everyone here though, at least everyone who pays attention to the world around them- there is quite a lot about blogging for example.

I have scored this blog highly, partly because it is visually sound and well constructed. But a far greater achievement, I think, is to turn a subject as (potentially) terminably dull as Intellectual Property, and making it engaging, accessible and informative to someone like me who had no prior knowledge or interest. Obviously anyone in the field will find the outstanding research and points raised incredibly helpful, but casual browsers and Google searchers will also find a lot of interest here too.

Thanks ODAAT! 

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 08:30 PM.
Permalink: phosita news - stellar review
| Comments (2)

DCR NEWS

October 08, 2004

congratulations to Receptor Logic ltd.

Congratulations to Receptor Logic Ltd. of Amarillo, Texas for winning a multi-million dollar Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Receptor Logic's proposal, entitled "TCR Mimics: A New Class of Antibodies Against HLA-peptide Complexes for Diagnosis and Therapy of Breast Cancer" was one of 4 ATP grants awarded to companies in the state of Texas, the first ATP grant awarded to a west Texas company, and one of only 32 awards made nationwide.

Another win for a DCR client!

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 03:41 PM.
Permalink: congratulations to Receptor Logic ltd.

DCR NEWS

October 06, 2004

Onco-Mouse Article Published

Congratulations to our very own Kati McClatchey on the publication of her article entitled THE EFFECT OF THE �ONCO-MOUSE� DECISIONS ON THE EXCEPTION TO PATENTABILITY FOR �ANIMAL VARIETIES� UNDER THE EUROPEAN PATENT CONVENTION.

This article gives great a great review of the European patent system, and of the patentability of animals.  Check it out at www.okjolt.com.

Posted by at 03:04 PM.
Permalink: Onco-Mouse Article Published

DCR NEWS

August 29, 2004

i'm off -- be nice!

Well, I am off for a couple of weeks -- business, pro bono and a little sightseeing thrown in for good measure.

The "newbies" will be posting during the next couple of weeks and I promised that you would be nice and supportive. 

Adieu - have fun!

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 06:48 PM.
Permalink: i'm off -- be nice!

DCR NEWS

August 16, 2004

wicked cool waste of time

....ahhh, I mean wicked cool web-link visualizer.

Thanks to Josh Rubin over at Cool Hunting for the link to TouchGraph GoogleBrowser.

Enter in a URL and you get a 3D visualization of all the incoming and outgoing links to that site. Click on one of the sites listed, and it reconfigures that sites links as well.  Zoom in, zoom out and look at the data from different zoom angles.  Some of the maps make for interesting graphical elements as well.

DCR's connections (DCR is yellow "Du" -- view zoomed out with short names for clarity)

Who are you connected to?

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 10:59 PM.
Permalink: wicked cool waste of time

DCR NEWS

August 06, 2004

Welcome to the New PHOSITA

Thanks for coming by! As you can see, we here at PHOSITA are working on redeveloping our little blawg. During the last week in July, we had a terrible hiccup with our Radio database and, after a lot of thought, I decided that we needed to be running PHOSITA on the server, rather than on a machine at an IP address (way buggy!) So -- here we are. I hope the move is not too traumatic on folks. I do think that the new design will be much easier and faster to navigate. I especially like the search function. Have a look around -- I will be editing the archived posts over the next week or so -- right now they are clean up and through July (Update 8/7: clean through May).

Stay cool during these dog days of summer and PHOSITA should be up and running at full steam very shortly.

Cheers! Douglas

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 02:38 AM.
Permalink: Welcome to the New PHOSITA
| Comments (4)

DCR NEWS

May 04, 2004

E-DATA SUES CORBIS AND GETTY OVER FREENY PATENT INFRINGEMENT

E-Data, the owner of the infamous "Freeny Patent" (U.S. Patent No. 4,528,643), announced that it is seeking damages from Getty Images and Corbis in the United States District Court, Western District of Texas (Docket: A 04 CA 230LY), for having infringed upon "the Freeny patent," prior to its U.S. expiration in January 2003. This action is in addition to the company's pending litigation against Getty Images and Corbis in both the Netherlands (Docket: KG 04/88 and KG 04/140) and the United Kingdom (Docket: Pat04007 and Pat04008) for infringing upon its European patent EP 0 195 098 B-1. PHOSITA has previously posted about the Freeny Patent European saga against Corbis & Getty here.

According to Bert Brodsky, chairman of E-Data Corporation:

"By enabling consumers to download photographs over the Internet, Getty Images and Corbis have egregiously violated our patents. Based on our favorable decision by the Court of Appeals in the U.S., we are confident in the scope of our patents. Moreover, given our encouraging track record in Europe, we have renewed and expanded our litigation, in both the United States and globally. Accordingly, we are working with two of the leading intellectual property law firms in North America and Europe, who are committed to ensuring that our patents are fully protected and enforced."

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 05:58 PM.
Permalink: E-DATA SUES CORBIS AND GETTY OVER FREENY PATENT INFRINGEMENT

DCR NEWS

April 14, 2004

DCR QUALITY & VALUE SHINES!

Another kudo (and shameless plug) for the intellectual property law firm of Dunlap Codding & Rogers, P.C.  According to Patent Ratings, LLC, DCR is ranked second among the top 100 patent law firms for obtaining the most valuable Mechanical & General patents for its clients.

According to Patent Ratings:

Performance rankings are based on PatentRatings' proprietary IPQ? technology, a proven statistical methodology for objectively scoring patent values. Top scores indicate the law firms that obtained, on average, the most valuable U.S. utility patents for their clients in 2003. 

Firm rankings were based on a review of patents issued in 2003 to the 100 firms obtaining the most patents in their respective technology sectors. Among the identified top 10 firms in each technology sector, most had devoted a higher-than-average percentage of their practices to patents in that same technology sector, indicating that experience and expertise within specific technology sectors weigh heavily towards obtaining higher quality patents.

In reviewing the list of other Top 10 firms, one striking statistic emerges -- most of the firms listed in the Top 10 are small to medium sized "boutique" law firms that specialize in patent prosecution.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 03:58 PM.
Permalink: DCR QUALITY & VALUE SHINES!